Recipes

Raspberry Fondant Fancies

Makes 25 

Prep time 1 hour (plus freezing time)

Cook time 30 minutes 

 

Ingredients

For the sponge:

175g softened butter or margarine

3 eggs, beaten

175g self-raising flour, 2 tsp reserved

1 tsp finely grated lemon zest

150g raspberries

 

To decorate:

150g marzipan

400g ready-made vanilla or lemon butter cream at room temperature

1kg fondant icing

Red and blue food colouring

50g milk chocolate, melted 

 

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C/gas mark 4. Line a 20cm square cake tin with parchment.  For the sponge, put all the sponge ingredients except the raspberries and reserved flour in a mixer and beat until well combined. Toss the raspberries in the reserved flour and fold into the mix. Spoon the sponge mix into the tin and bake for around 30 minutes until golden, springy and just pulling away from the edges. Place on a wire rack to cool, then remove the cake paper and freeze for 20 minutes.

2. Thinly roll out the marzipan. Remove the cake from the freezer and spread over a thin layer of buttercream. Top with the marzipan trimming away any overhang. Cut the cake into 25 even pieces. Spread four sides of each cube with buttercream and pipe a small blob on top, then return to the freezer for at least 10 minutes. 

3. Chop the fondant into pieces and place in a food mixer. Starting it gently beat until it breaks down, adding 150ml water in small amounts of until you get an almost pouring consistency.  Divide into 3 different bowls. Leave one white, add red colouring to one and blue to another, mixing to the desired shade. Spear the base of the cube with a fork and dip it into the icing removing, lift it up twisting as you go to cover the whole cube and transfer to a wire rack to set. Repeat to create a mix of red, white and blue fondant fancies. 

4. Once softly set, drizzle all the cakes with milk chocolate. Its easiest to do this with a piping bag and leave to set for a few minutes before serving. Store in an airtight container for up to two days.